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The
Four Horsemen of Usability
by John
S. Rhodes
Summary
As of June 2001,
four web properties control more than 50% of all the time spent online by
U.S. surfers. This means that you can throw away your usability guidelines
and follow these companies. They spend millions on usability testing and
they are driving standards by sheer market force. You have no choice but to
follow their lead.
Some Background
I've been thinking
a lot about the future of the internet and the future of usability. As many
WebWord readers know, I am not
afraid to challenge the usability community even though I am part of
that community. I suppose that doesn't always make me popular, but I feel
that my challenges keep people on their toes.
Over at Web
Review, Christopher Schmitt asked five leading experts to compare
the Web today (June 2001) to the way it was five years ago. That article
got me thinking more about how the web has changed and what that means for
usability. I was originally thinking that the web has changed a lot,
but Jakob Nielsen stated that web
usability hasn't really changed much in the last five years. Although Jakob
always thinks usability stinks, he has a point. Things really haven't
changed much. Users still have many problems.
This left me with
a very empty feeling.
Negatively Charged Vibes
But then things
got worse.
I started to
realize that the article I read before the Web Review Q&A was really
bothering me. That troublesome article was about how only four
companies (AOL / Time Warner, Microsoft, Napster, and Yahoo!) control
over 50% of time spent online by users. (Those companies remind me of the Four
Horsemen!)
50%! That's
incredible. That freaks me out.
On average, just a
few companies control much of my time online. And your time. And your
mother's time. And so on. It is crazy that a handful of companies control so
much of the internet. Not the infrastructure necessarily, but certainly the
overall experience. I care about that.
With the free
web dying, the situation is only going to get worse. While millions of
web pages bloom, the actual power will continue to be centralized with fewer
and fewer companies. There is every reason to believe things will only get
worse in this respect. Small companies and small web sites are dropping
dead.
Today Lawrence Lee announced that Tomalak's
Realm is closing down. While his reasons sound good, I suspect that part
of the reason for the "death" is financial. If Lawrence was making
gobs and gobs of money, he might have continued to dish up useful links each
day. The reality it
that large companies have plenty of money and they can withstand pain,
but smaller companies cannot. When things get bad, and the stock market
tanks, then the lions will strike. That is happening now.
So I have bad
vibes. I was worried before, but now the negatively charged vibes are
running through my body. Companies
hold so much power, and the web is closing down as we know it. A few
companies are going to control your life online.
What This Means for the Usability Community
If only four
companies control 50% of the web, then usability is not important 50% of the
time. Well, that isn't quite right. What I should say is that we don't have
much control over how those web sites will be designed. Further, I mean
"we" as users and I mean "we" as the usability
community.
The web design
world is at the mercy of these four companies. They will dictate to us
how web sites will be designed. It is much the same with Windows. When
software applications are developed, they are developed
the Microsoft way. It is assumed that when you build a Windows
application, it will be developed so that it looks and feels like all other
Windows applications. While it is true that four companies dominate 50% of
our online time, versus Microsoft's 92% of dominance of the world's
operating system installations, they are still able to force us into a
corner. We are at their mercy.
We can talk all we
want about usability standards. And, we can complain about corporate power
and abuse. But those things won't do much for us. Instead, I suggest that we
look at The Four Horsemen of the web and figure out how we can make our
sites fit theirs. How can we turn this situation around? How can we benefit
from their power?
I hope that you
realize that I'm about to throw some heresy your way. I'm saying that
perhaps we should look at these powerful web properties, with all of
their flaws, instead of users! I'm not saying that this is
optimal. I am saying that it is practical. If you have no usability
experience and you have no budget or time, take a look at the Four Horsemen
of the web. We know that they spend money on usability. For example, take a
look at Microsoft's usability
efforts. Indeed, they spend a lot more on usability than you do! (By the
way, as of 5-June-2001, they are hiring.)
Now, this doesn't
mean that AOL / Time Warner, Microsoft, Yahoo! and Napster are doing things
right. In fact, I think we all realize that they are looking to make money
and they put their interests first. I also think that Napster will go away.
We'll have three horsemen. But I digress.
There is something
to be said for following in the footsteps of giants. They are large and they
are in charge. That forces you to act. That forces you to follow their lead.
Follow the Four Horsemen or Die?
You should still
test your web site with your users. I am not saying that you should
abandon all hope. Instead, I am saying that you are going up against
very powerful forces. If you have no budget for usability, it only makes
sense that you should watch and learn from companies that dominate the
market. If you don't know your users and have no time to understand them,
then visit the web properties that dominate. Understand how they do things.
You can understand the mindshare that they command and you can get usability
knowledge at a very low cost. They have taken the bullets for you,
capitalize on that!
If you are a niche
player then perhaps you can ignore me. If you have an non-profit site, maybe
my advice does not count. Maybe you have very special users and maybe you
know them very well. But, if you are playing to a larger audience, then I
would fall back on my advice. Follow the leaders; follow the Four Horsemen.
By default they control web design standards. Usability be damned!
Talk about this article. Visit the
discussion board. I'll see you there!
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